So in this chapter, Leon finally meets the Beast! What will be his first impression of her?

Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed, especially civilwarrose who has left such kind and encouraging reviews! And can you believe I've written seventeen chapters in two months? Pretty impressive, huh?

Read on and enjoy!

With nightfall fast approaching, the path seemed to get longer as Leon and Sabine trotted along. The horse seemed to be more relaxed now that the most sensible of her masters was in charge and she trusted him with her life and knew he wouldn't make any rash decisions.

As Leon rode, he couldn't help but think about his mother and the danger she was most likely to be in, as the cold, dusk air sent a chill down his spine in spite of his cape providing warmth.

How on earth could she have gotten lost? he thought, She had a map! Why didn't she use it? And if she did, how hard could it be to read it?

Then he suddenly realised that she wasn't very good at reading maps and had either not bothered with them or relied on him to read them for her, with his self-taught geography and excellent map reading skills. It was starting to make sense now.

'I knew this would happen, Sabine,' said Leon, 'I knew she would get lost. She can't read maps properly and had never travelled by herself before, but she just had to be stubborn, didn't she?'

Sabine whinnied in agreement, as if to say, 'You don't know the half of it!'

Then, Leon had another idea of why she had gotten lost.

'Or maybe… She did have the map and read it or tried to, but somehow, she managed to lose it and missed the turn into Clarat and then you approached the fork in the path and she made you lead her in the wrong direction?'

Sabine whinnied again, like Leon was right, which he was.

'And when you refused to go down that path, she bribed you with an apple until you moved?'

Another whinny but it sounded liked Sabine was ashamed of herself for going against her instincts for the sake of a tasty apple.

'It's not your fault, girl, you'll do almost anything for an apple, won't you?' said Leon, stroking her mane.

'Now that I know what had happened and I'll know you'll hate me for doing this, but you have to show me where you and Mama went before you got separated.'

Sabine whinnied and reluctantly led Leon to the dark, forbidding path which led to the dark forest.

'The dark forest? Why did you go there? There are wolves, bats and it doesn't lead to anywhere and there's..'

No, he thought; Don't be ridiculous, there's no such thing. It's just a silly rumour to scare children into obedience and to not go out of the village and to make people avoid going there.

But despite himself, he felt uneasy as he heard a wolf's howl in the distance, which had confirmed Jean-Luc's warnings earlier but he knew that this was no time to be scared, especially with his mother's life at stake.

'Come on girl,' he urged Sabine, flicking gently at her reins. The horse obeyed and led Leon into the dark and unforgiving forest with no chance of turning back.

The sky in the forest had turned dark with a misty, grey fog blanketing the bare trees and the sound of owls hooting and the faint howls of wolves could be heard, as Leon and Sabine trotted down the wide path that seemed to stretch further as they went along.

Both of them were shivering from both the cold and their fear, as the fog surrounded them, making any visibility impossible. Luckily for Leon, his mother's travel bag was still attached to Sabine and he was able to find an unlit lantern which she hadn't even used.

'Oh, Mama,' he sighed and lit it, holding Sabine's reins in one hand and the lantern in the other, which improved their visibility slightly and made it easier to get around.

'Now Sabine,' he said to the horse, 'you need to show me where you think Mama may have gone when you left her. Just use your good instincts to make the best guess you can. Mama is depending on us!'

Sabine made a turn and led Leon towards the opposite direction, where she had ran off when the wolf bit her tail and left Madeleine at the mercy of the wolves, sniffing and snorting for anything that she might have dropped when she had run away from them.

Then, something caught her attention and she quickly trotted over to some strange iron gates that Leon had never seen before.

'Sabine, why did you stop here?' he said, confused at why she had done so, but dismounted the horse in order to take a closer look.

'Wait here, girl,' he instructed her as he got closer to the gates, which to his surprise, opened easily like someone had already opened them and entered the eerie-looking castle that they led to.

As he entered, he noticed a blue object that lay in a pile of decaying leaves near the gates and saw the reason why Sabine had led him there. He picked it up and saw that it was his mother's headband.

'So, she did come here,' he said, 'but why didn't she leave? Unless.. she went inside and something made her stay and never came out of this castle,'

He looked up at the gloomy-looking castle and wondered who would live in this miserable place and why his mother came here in the first place.

With that in mind, Leon walked along the bridge, clutching the headband like it was a precious possession, hoping that he was not too late to save his mother.

'Hold on Mama, I'm coming,' he said, as he entered the castle.

Unaware at this moment that Leon had entered the castle, Cogsworth was in the kitchen having a very heated argument with the fool made of wax, Lumiere about what had happened the previous day.

'I told you Lumiere, to not get any crazy ideas about letting the woman in! I warned you about what had happened the last time you did this and that the mistress wouldn't take kindly to an uninvited guest! That those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it?

Well let me tell you something you fool, history has indeed repeated itself! Thanks to your persistence, hospitality, letting her pet the dog, having the cat on her lap and ignoring my warnings, that poor woman is now in the dungeon getting dangerously ill by the minute due to the damp and cold conditions in there!

I hope you're pleased with yourself!'

'I was just doing my job, Cogsworth! It's been so long since we had a guest and served anyone and I never thought it would come to that! And I did tell the mistress to move her into a warmer, comfy room to recuperate but she wouldn't listen to me!' Lumiere replied.

'Just like you and the others didn't listen to me! You didn't back then and you didn't now! You don't seem to realise that sometimes, your actions have consequences!' shouted Cogsworth.

'Try telling that to Remy! It was his fault as well since he couldn't keep that big, fat mouth of his shut!'

'You all had a fair share in it as well, may I remind you, so don't pin the blame on..'

Lumiere was getting fed up with the pompous old clock and was about to deliver a punch to him, when suddenly,

'Mama?' Leon's voice rang through the main foyer, which cut the argument short and stopped Lumiere mid-punch, making him and Cogsworth turn around and they saw him pass by the kitchen.

'Hello, is anyone there?' he called out. For Lumiere, this was the moment he had been waiting for, the day that Irena said would come, her prophecy coming true, that the boy had arrived to fall in love with the mistress and break the spell.

He was just as excited as he was when Belle had arrived to save her father years ago and he could hardly believe his luck.

'Cogsworth!' he said, acting like his birthday and Christmas had all come at once, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him, barely able to contain himself, 'There's a young man in the castle!'

'Yes, yes, I saw him,' Cogsworth said dismissively while blowing out Lumiere's candles, like he usually did, 'but what is the big deal about him? Why has he made you so excited all of a sudden?'

'Don't you see?' Lumiere said, like Cogsworth was an idiot, 'He's.. he's the one, Cogsworth, the one Irena said would come to the castle. He's the one to break the spell!'

'Oh, Lumiere, you actually believed that?' Cogsworth said, 'Irena only told us that to give us and the mistress hope, which turned out to be false. No young man has dared come here for fear of the mistress's appearance and horrid temper.'

'Well, this so-called false hope is the only one that has actually managed to find his way here and just passed by us! And after all, Irena didn't say how but that he certainly would!' Lumiere replied.

'You're just saying that because you want to be human again, just like when the mistress's mother came here years ago, everyone knows that.'

'No, I'm not, that's a lie, Cogsworth and you know it!' said Lumiere, although deep down what he said was true, as much as he wanted to deny it.

But he was not going to let it get in the way of destiny and jumped off the table he was standing on to find this young man who, in his eyes, was their saviour.

'Wait for me!' Cogsworth said, not too far behind.

'Well, it looks like Irena's prophecy has come true,' said Mrs Potts, who along with Chip and Rebecca had watched the argument and Leon passing by, 'and what a handsome young man he is.'

'Indeed he is,' said Rebecca, 'I only hope he isn't annoying, obnoxious and childish like Remy because if he is, he can go right back to where he came from! We don't need two Remys here, thank you very much!'

Mrs Potts and Chip laughed at that.

In the art studio in the East Wing, Amelie was busy organising the brushes and paint bottles into the art box where Sophie now slept (much like Chip slept in the cupboard in the kitchen to his dismay) and she needed her help, if she could find her that is, since she was nowhere to be seen.

'Sophie, where are you darling?' she called, 'I need your help getting the paint bottles in the box and arranging them into colour order!'

'Sophie?' when she got no response, 'are you hiding from me, little lady? Stop being silly and come out! You may be a paint bottle, but you still need to do your chores before going to bed!'

'Mama!' Sophie said, hopping excitedly into the studio, eager to tell her mother about the news that had been spreading around the castle.

'There you are, darling, I need you to..'

'He's here!' Sophie exclaimed.

'Who's here, darling?' said Amelie, confused and seeing no one at the door, had no idea what Sophie was talking about.

'The boy, a very pretty boy is in the castle who will fall in love with the mistress and make her happy and a human again! He's actually here, like I said!' Sophie said, saying it as if a magical fairy had appeared in front of her and granted her wish.

'Yes, dear in your mind,' Amelie said.

'No, he really is here, Mama, I'm not lying!' Sophie protested.

'Sophie, I know you want to be a girl again and you want the mistress to stop being beastly to everyone but talking about imaginary boys isn't going to help the situation or get anyone's hopes up. Now, please darling, come up and help me with the paint bottles.' Amelie said, firmly.

'But he is here, I swear!' Sophie said, hurt at not being believed, 'and I don't want to do chores, they're too boring!'

'Amelie, haven't you heard?' Babette said, coming into the room and eager to share what she had heard, 'There's a young man in the castle and he's a very good looking, ever-so-strong man!' which caught Amelie's attention.

'Really?' she said.

'I told you, Mama!' Sophie said, triumphantly.

'Sophie, please don't interrupt,' Amelie said. To Babette, she then said,

'So, it's true then? That a good looking young man has come to the castle and that Sophie was telling the truth?'

Babette nodded.

'I want some of that!' Amelie said, purring and growling seductively, like she did when she was flirting with men other than Raymond.

'Oh Amelie, you are a terrible flirt,' said Babette, 'I wonder what Raymond thinks about your flirting with other men and you are setting a bad example to your young daughter!'

'Oh, he knows it's just harmless and he doesn't take notice of it. But if your husband was an accident waiting to happen, wouldn't you do that?'

'No I wouldn't, since I think that man is too young for you and that he is here to fall in love with the mistress.' Babette said.

Leon was becoming more and more frustrated as he continued his search around the castle, getting nowhere fast. It was like being in a maze or in the labyrinth of the terrible Minotaur, with the endless corridors, the confusing rooms which led to nowhere and the unsettling beastly statues and stone gargoyles on the ceilings, staircase and walls , which gave Leon an uneasily feeling just looking at them.

Who would live in a horrible place like this? he thought as he found yet another dead end and he was beginning to think that he had been sent on a wild goose chase set up by his invisible host who didn't have the decency to show his face to him and lead him to his mother and was playing with him like a cat would play with a wounded mouse.

Eventually for all his efforts, he ended up in some stony place which was unlike the rest of the castle, as it was damp, cold, dingy and dark. Gargoyles were also present on the walls and there were several doors with bars on a narrow rectangular hole at the bottom of each one, the wood eroding from age and the dampness.

If Leon didn't know any better (which he did), he could have sworn that he had found the dungeon and grabbing a nearby lit torch, he walked along it, gagging from the awful, musty smell and called out-

'Mama, where are you? Are you here?' but got no response. He walked on, passing a candelabra resting in a square hole in the wall, which for some reason, looked at him sideways with human eyes and smiled at him.

'Mama, if you can hear me, please give me a sign, a cough, sneeze, anything to let me know you're here so I can get you out of this horrible place,'

As if answering his question, a faint cough could be heard from one of the cells which sounded like Madeleine. Leon quickly rushed over to where the cough came from and saw his mother come up to the bars at the bottom, shivering from the cold, which was unusual for the healthy, strong woman and Leon could see that the cell she was in had nothing more than hay on the floor and a mouldy old blanket for warmth.

'Mama!' Leon cried out, shocked to see the state she was in.

'Leon, is that you?' said Madeleine, putting her hands out and Leon felt them. Instead of feeling warm, they were cold as a hairless cat in a snowstorm.

'Your hands, they're as cold as ice,' said Leon, 'We have to get you out of here before you get even sicker.'

'Leon, listen to me,' Madeleine said, 'You have to get away from this place, it's dangerous!'

'Who did this to you? Who?' said Leon, 'What inhumane monster put you in here to get sick from the cold and give you nothing more than a mouldy old blanket for warmth? Who?'

'It doesn't matter, Leon, just get out of here! Don't worry about me, just save yourself!' pleaded Madeleine.

'No, I'm not leaving without you, Mama! I'm going to get you out of here!' said Leon, jiggling the door, but it remained firmly locked, despite his best efforts.

'WHAT ARE YOU DOING?' an inhuman voice growled, as a hairy paw (at least it looked like a paw since the rest of the figure was hidden in the dark and it was hard to see) grabbed Leon by the shoulder, causing him to gasp and drop the torch he had been holding and it landed in a puddle of water, making the flame go out.

'Leon, now's your chance, run away while you still can!' said Madeleine, but Leon didn't listen, as he stayed where he was, determined to face the figure, despite being nervous.

'I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!' the figure said again, 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE? ANSWER ME!'

'I'm rescuing my mother from your horrible prison!' he said, 'Why did you lock her up in here? Can't you see she's sick? She may die in here! What did she do to deserve this awful fate?'

'She trespassed into my castle, that's what and this is the appropriate punishment for her!' the figure responded.

'And did you think that gave you the right to throw her in the dungeon for something as petty as that?' said Leon.

'Yes it does, for I am the mistress of this castle and I can do whatever pleases me, whether it be ordering my servants around or locking up intruders who dare cross my path!' the figure said again.

'You...you inhumane monster! How could you be so cruel to do that to innocent people who only wanted somewhere to stay? Do you have no heart at all?' said Leon, angry. The figure didn't respond.

'Just let her go please, sir..'

'Madame!' Madeleine hissed, not wanting Leon to make the same mistake she did.

'Please, madame,' Leon said, for the voice sounded like a female's, in spite of the deep and animal-like tone, 'Let my mother go, I'll do anything you say, as long as she goes free.'

'She is not free to leave, for she is now my prisoner and will remain here forever and there is nothing you can do for her now.'

'I'll do anything for her,' Leon said, desperately. He then thought of only one solution, a terrible one and he was unaware of the dire situation that he was putting himself into but he had to do it for his mother.

'I'll… I'll even take her place!'

'Leon, no, don't do this!' Madeleine said, horrified at her son's decision. The figure, however, seemed to be taken aback by Leon's offer like she couldn't believe it.

'What did you just say?' she said.

'I said that I'll take her place, I'll be your prisoner instead,' Leon replied.

'You'll take her place?' the figure said.

'If I did that, will you let my mother go?' Leon said.

'Very well then, she is free to go, but on one condition. You must promise me that you will stay with me forever out of your own free will,' she then said.

'Leon, you don't have to do this!' Madeleine protested, not wanting to lose the only family she had left, 'You shouldn't have to give up your freedom for me!'

'There is one thing I want from you,' Leon said to the figure firmly.

'What is that?'

'Come into the light,' he commanded.

Oooh, a cliffhanger! What will Leon think when he sees the Beast in full view?